Gay, bi, or straight, if you do not have a personal relationship with God, if you have never consciously prayed to renounce your old life and accept Christ as your personal savior, some of this chapter may not make complete sense to you. You may have questions. You may have been to church on and off over the course of your life. You may have talked to family, friends, or seen TV preachers talk about salvation. Or you might have seen The Passion of the Christ on DVD. First, let me say thank you for being open minded and reading this far. Second, I must say that I believe that the Bible is God’s message to us. And that’s what this section of the book has been based on.
Here’s my story. My parents thought it was a good idea to “send the kids to church,” so I grew up “in the church.” I went to Sunday School and children’s church before getting into youth group and “big church” in junior high. I sang the songs, listened to the pastors, and knew a lot. But it took a while to realize that knowing is different from accepting and experiencing. That dawned on me when I was 14, and I “got saved” (or received Christ into my life).
I was a gung-ho kid for God and stepped on a lot of toes! I remember offending our one and only neighbor after feeling convicted to finally share the gospel with her—but did it over the phone (ugh!) (She lived across the street.) But I’ve realized that we all become wiser as we age, not that we’re ever perfect; it’s just that as we experience more and more as life goes on, we have more wisdom and better perspective.
“Where are you going with all this?” you might be wondering. I just want to say that it’s not about which religion is “the one” or whose church is right or any of the things that have divided Protestants into denominations. It all comes down to the fact that God made you, and He loves you. He wants to have a relationship with you—even more than that one person you recall that you thought was amazing, the one that you loved and they loved you back, and for a time, it was heaven. Think that love—but thousands of times stronger. That’s how God feels about you.
And since He feels that way about you, He had to make a way past your sin to get to you and did so through Jesus, His son. Take a few minutes and read through this information for a deeper explanation - http://bit.ly/fsitbnow.
So that page talks about praying a simple prayer. If you are wondering what to pray, I think it would look something like this:
“Dear God, (insert whatever your relationship with or knowledge of Him has been thus far), but I confess and repent of my sins. I believe that you sent Christ to die for my sins so You could know and have a relationship with me. I accept You into my heart and life and receive Your salvation. Make me a new creature as You promised in your Word. Cleanse me; save me from the path I was on, and guide me from here on out. Amen.”
Although this website was not meant to be a funnel to the gospel or direct anyone to do anything with his or her spiritual life, it wouldn’t make much sense to talk about Christianity but omit mentioning salvation and how to really experience it.
If you just prayed that prayer, I’m sure you have some new questions. Find a church you’re comfortable with that believes and speaks the truth according to the Bible. Ask for help learning more about what to do and where to go from here. (The church you choose may call this “getting discipled.”) Start reading the Bible through at the book of Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. These things will give you knowledge and start you on the road to maturing spiritually (a never ending process!)
A great movie that explains Jesus, Christianity, & how humanity needs salvation.